BLACKBURN boss Graeme Souness blasted his players after Rovers slumped to a crushing UEFA Cup defeat in Turkey last night.

Genclerbirligi's 3-1 victory in the 19 Mayis Stadium leaves Rovers with a mountain to climb in the second leg at Ewood in three weeks time.

And Souness left his sloppy defenders in no doubt that he held them responsible for conceding a vital two-goal advantage as Guinea international Souleymane Youla inspired the Turks to a surprise victory.

"I don't think we showed them enough respect," said an angry Souness.

"I thought some of our players maybe approached the game thinking it was going to be easy and we just didn't perform on the night.

"Defensively, we conceded three very poor goals.

"We didn't play at all in the first half. We only started in the second half and by that stage we were 2-0 down.

"Maybe their first goal was a foul on Brad and the second goal could have been offside but overall in the first half we were very poor.

"In the second half we upped it a bit and played at more of the pace you have to to be an effective team.

"We started to get after them a bit and at 2-1 I thought we might go on and make it 2-2.

"But instead of that we conceded another sloppy goal which makes the second game a very difficult one now."

Two goals in the space of two first half minutes effectively killed Rovers off.

Brett Emerton briefly restored hope with a crucial away goal early in the second half.

But man-of-the-match Youla then pounced to score again for the Turks meaning Rovers must now win 2-0 in the second leg on October 15.

"It's not impossible for us to win 2-0 at Ewood but we'll have to defend a lot better than we did here," said Souness.

"We are a better team than we showed tonight. We've got to do better defensively. We were not at the races defensively and that has cost us dearly.

"I think it's going to be a very different game at home, though, and I would like to think my players have been stung. Maybe some of the criticism which follows might sting them into action, first of all against Fulham on Sunday, then when the second leg comes around next month."

Souness will also hope for better luck from the match officials in the second leg.

Last night he felt Rovers were denied a clear penalty when Ciccio Grabbi appeared to be wrestled to the floor in the area but nothing was given.

"The one on Ciccio was a definite penalty and how the referee can't see it is beyond me. "He must have seen it because everyone else saw Ciccio's shirt coming off his body. But the referee chose not to give it."

A group of Rovers supporters lost 4-2 to their Turkish counterparts in a special friendly 7-a-side game held before last night's match.